MU Receives $4.5 Million Grant

COLUMBIA - The University of Missouri announced a $4.5 million federal grant Thursday it received that will be used to create the MU Center for Patient-centered Outcomes Research.

The research is part of a national effort to help patients and their physicians make informed decisions in a health care environment.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the Department of Health and Human Services is funding the project. It is a five-year effort involving researchers from multiple departments of MU, including the MU School of Medicine, the Sinclair School of Nursing, the School of Health Professions and the School of Journalism.

The grant includes three major projects:

• The first project will compare whether open surgery or less invasive procedures through arteries are more effective at saving limbs and avoiding repeat hospitalizations. Results will help physicians and patients in deciding which approach best matches the patient's needs.

• In the second project, researchers will test ways to improve the discharge process for patients returning home from skilled nursing facilities.

• In the third project, researchers will be studying multiple primary care practices to improve decision-making about prescribing narcotics for chronic pain.

"Health sciences researchers, educators and clinicians are increasingly focused on patient-centered care," said Les Hall, M.D., interim dean of the University of Missouri School of Medicine and a professor in the school's Department of Internal Medicine. "In our medical school curricula, in our hospitals and clinics, and in our research, it is about putting patients at the heart of everything health professionals do."

The project also includes a collaborative agreement with the American Academy of Family Physicians Nation Research Network.